Charles Pic
|birthplace = Montélimar, France |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |status = Retired |currentteam = |currentcar = |firstrace = 2012 Australian Grand Prix |lastrace = 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix |2012Postion = 21st |2012Pts = 0}} Charles Pic ( ; born 15 February 1990 in Montélimar, Drôme, Rhône-Alpes, France) is French Formula One driver. He has drove for , , and . After being dropped by Caterham at the end of , Pic joined in as a reserve driver for the team. Racing career Karting 2004 Pic began his karting career at a young age, however it was not until 2004 when Pic moved into the major karting categories. At age 14 Pic competed in the ICA Junior Championships, these included the European and Italian Championships as well as the Andrea Margutti Trophy in Italy. In these categories Pic competed against other notable future talent such as Jaime Alguersuari and Jules Bianchi. Pic's greatest success came in the Italian ICA Junior Championship where he finished in a respectable 5th position. 2005 For 2005, Pic competed in the ICA Junior Championships for a second season. Pic once again competed in the European and Italian Championships. He was met with much more significant success in his second season of ICA, Pic managed a solid third in the standings of the European Championship and finished second in the Italian Championship. That year he also managed to take a convincing win at the Andrea Margutti Trophy in a race that saw the involvement of his younger brother, Arthur Pic. Formula Renault 2006 After a successful few years in Karting, Pic made the next step in his motoring career and entered into single seater racing at 16 years old in the Formula Renault Campus France series. Pic joined the Le Filiere team racing a Mygale chassis. Pic performed well in the series and out of the thirteen races he competed in, Pic was able to manage two pole positions, 8 podiums and a single win. These results were enough for him to secure third in the championship. 2007 After strong performances in the Campus series in 2006, Pic made his first entrance into a major racing league the following season when he joined the Formula Renault 2.0 series. Competing in both the Eurocup and the French racing series, Pic competed for the SG Formula team in both series. In the Eurocup series Pic was partnered by fellow French drivers Nelson Panciatici and Edouard Texte for teammates. Panciatici and Texte also competed in the French series but the trio were also joined by Jules Bianchi, Alexandre Marsoin and British driver Jon Lancaster. In the Euroseries Pic finished a strong third in the championship behind Brendon Hartley and Jon Lancaster. Pic managed to consistently outclass both his teammates and took 1 win, 2 pole positions, 6 podiums and a fastest lap. Pic had managed to outclass other future stars such as Stefano Coletti, Jaime Alguersuari, Oliver Turvey and Daniel Ricciardo. Pic did not fair quite as well in the French series and was beaten by teammates Bianchi and Marsoin, Bianchi notably winning the championship that year. Pic still managed a pole position and 4 podiums which allowed him to finish 4th in the final standings. Formula Renault 3.5 2008 For 2008 Pic aimed to enter the senior racing formula for Formula Renault, the 3.5 series otherwise known as the World Series By Renault. After producing promising results in winter testing, Pic was signed by Tech 1 Racing, notably the current reigning champions in the series. Pic replaced Alvaro Parente, the reigning champion in the series. Pic was partnered in the team by Julien Jousse who was embarking his second season with the team. Pic appeared to be very quicker than teammate Jousse throughout the season but lacked his consistency. Whilst Pic could be very quick on occassions, he often had races where he languished down in the mid-field and was unable to be consistently at the front of the grid as Jousse was on most occassions. Pic however managed to exceed expectations on a number of occassions such as dominating the third round in Monaco. Making his first venture to the tight twisty Circuit de Monaco, Pic managed to put his car on pole and led a lights to flag victory. Pic was able to get a second victory at his home grand prix at the French circuit, the Circuit de la Sarthe. However Pic was not able to provide these results on a consistent basis and therefore could only manage 6th in the standings whereas teammate Jousse finished in 2nd in the championship despite scoring one less win than Pic and not taking any pole positions. Overall however both Pic and Jousse were able to ensure that Tech 1 remained the reigning Team's Champions for another season. 2009 At the end of the 2008 season, Pic confirmed that he would contest the World Series By Renault with Tech 1 for a second year running. The beginning of the 2009 season saw more good news for Pic as his performances in 2008 were enough to secure him a place in the Formula One team's Driver Development Programme. This elite training program would see the Renault Formula One team support and help develop Pic's career throughout the season and therefore increasing his chances in making it to Formula One in the future. At the end of 2008, Julien Jousse announced he was leaving the 3.5 Series and so for 2009 his former position at the Tech 1 team would be occupied by Brendon Hartley who had signed for the team for seven races that season. The New Zealander had been one of Pic's main rivals in the Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2008 and was considered a potential star of the future being the and Formula One test and reserve driver for the 2009 season. Whilst Tech 1 Racing was not as strong as they had been in 2008, Pic had managed to improve his performance and consistency dramatically. Pic had become a regular points scoring contender and was able to outpace his reputable teammate Brendon Hartley on nearly all occassions. For the three races that Hartley did not compete, he was replaced by Daniel Ricciardo and Edoardo Mortara neither of whom could match Pic in performance. Despite embarassingly spinning off on the parade lap of the first round of the championship at the Circuit de Catalunya, Pic managed two wins and two pole positions. Pic took his first pole at the second round at Catalunya before taking a pole position followed by a race victory at round 9 at the Silverstone Circuit and a final win at the Nürburgring. These results ensured Pic finished a strong third in the championship. GP2 Series 2009 Shortly after the conclusion of the 2009 World Series By Renault, Pic was invited to participate in a GP2 Series test at Jerez with the Arden International team. In October 2009, Pic was invited to compete in the first round of the 2009-2010 GP2 Asia Series at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with Arden International. Pic was partnered with Portugeuse driver, Rodolfo Gonzalez for the Abu Dhabi round of the championship. Gonzalez, who had some minor experience in GP2 prior to Abu Dhabi was significantly quicker than Pic in qualifying, finishing the session in 6th place whilst Pic could only manage a distant 20th on the grid. The first race was not kind on either drivers with Pic retiring his first GP2 race and Gonzalez dropping to 14th position at the end of the race. The second race proved more kindly for Pic finishing the race in 15th position, one place higher than his teammate. Overall it had been a reasonable beginning to his GP2 career. 2010 In January 2010, Pic was confirmed ? by Arden International that he would continue to contest the rest of the GP2 Asia Series as well as the main GP2 Series for the 2010 Season. For the GP2 Asia series, Pic would be partnered by Spanish driver Javier Villa whilst for the main GP2 Championship, Rodolfo Gonzalez would partner him. The second round of the GP2 Asia Series would ince again take place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in February 2010. In qualifying Pic performed admirably in which he managed to take pole position ahead of the two iSport cars of Oliver Turvey and Davide Valsecchi. Teammate Javier Villa qualified in 6th position. The race however proved to be disastrous with Pic making a dreadful start and fell down the order rapidly in the opening laps of the race. Teammate Villa went on to finish fourth. The second race saw Pic make a slight advancement from tenth to eighth whilst Villa struggled and finished significantly behind him. Pic however left round 2 without any points contributing to the championship. The third venue in the 2009-10 GP2 Asia Series took place at the Bahrain International Circuit. Formula One Formula One Statistical Overview F1 Career History Statistics As of the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix Career Results | | |20th|15th|19th|20th|20th|16th|16th|16th| |19th|19th| |20th|12th|0|21st}} |18th|15th|17th|15th| |17th|19th|14th|18th| |19th|20th| |0|20th}} ||||||||}} Notes Category:French Drivers Category:2012 Début Drivers Category:Marussia Drivers Category:Caterham Drivers Category:1990 births Category:Living people